In Suzanne Collins's second installment of The Hunger Games series, Catching Fire, the tensions continue to grow between the Capitol and the citizens of Panem. One day, Katniss encounters two refugees from District 8, Bonnie and Twill, who are on a journey to the supposedly desolate District 13. Their confidence in its existence and their pursuit of it as a place of refuge is beyond shocking to Katniss, who denies that such a place could exist and have just stood by and watched the struggle of the people of Panem.  However, throughout history bystanders in times of crisis have been present, especially in the event of the Rwandan genocide, where the country was ignored by more powerful and influential western nations as well as the United Nations.  By looking at Katniss's disbelief and anger towards the possibility of the existence of District 13 and the similar feeling of abandonment experienced by the people of Rwanda during the bloodshed of genocide, we can see the parallel formed by both District 13 in Catching Fire and the United Nations during the Rwandan genocide.  This is important because in both of these dire scenarios, the inaction of bystanders proved just as destructive as the violence itself, and caused unexpected characters to take a stand and emerge as heroes.
	
When Katniss first hears Bonnie and Twill's reasoning behind believing in the existence of District 13, readers would expect maybe happiness or at least a sense of relief from her considering that this could be good if not even great news.  As far as Katniss knows, there could finally be a potential for help to not only the people throughout the districts of Panem but the growing revolutionary sentiments against President Snow and the Capitol.  However, rather than basking in the positivity of these possibilities, Katniss immediately clings to a negative viewpoint of District 13 because she realizes that if their existence is true, then they have been present all along and have been watching the other districts starve and suffer the torture of the Hunger Games.  This viewpoint is the exact same that was adopted by many Hutu people during the Rwandan genocide.  While 800,000 people were murdered in the bloodshed of the genocide, people wondered where the help was.  There were many nations with the power and influence to engage in the war but yet no one did.  People like the hotel manager depicted in the film Hotel Rwanda, Paul Rusesabagina, had no outer forces to rely on for assistance.  Even the United Nations refrained from called the events in Rwanda a "genocide", which would require action by the organization.  After Katniss listens to Bonnie and Twill she thinks to herself  "And suddenly I hate this imaginary underground city of District 13 and those who sit by watching us die.  They're no better than the Capitol." (148) Rusesabagina was faced with similar feelings when forced to remain captive in his own hotel with hidden refugees and his family.  Rather than have to consider an "imaginary" bystander to blame, he witnessed the bystanders before his very own eyes; watching soldiers sent by the United Nations who were under orders to not even fire on those assaulting the people unless they were assaulted themselves.  The primary function of the soldiers was to merely serve as a "peacekeepers", even though they could not truly engage in offensive acts to actually keep the peace.  Both Katniss and Rusesabagina experienced the same probing question, "Why haven't they helped us?" (148)
	
The inaction of bystanders in both Catching Fire and during the Rwandan genocide proved to cause insurmountable consequences.  Katniss witnessed horrors be thrown onto her friends, such as Gale's whipping, and then she herself is selected in a ploy of the Capitol to enter the area of the Hunger Games once again, and face death for the second time with Peter.  Rusesabagina was forced to lie to both rebel and Hutu leaders in order to keep him and the refugees he protected out of harm's way.  This involved cashing in previous favors and bribing dangerous people of power as well.  It is in this respect that we can also begin to see a point being made with Katniss's character in Catching Fire.  Her reactions and anger towards District 13 makes a statement about those who stay uninvolved in times of conflict when they have the power to help and inflict change in the situation.  Her attitude suggests that inaction is in its own way, its own form of evil and corruption, that is perhaps even more dangerous and detrimental than the evil of the outright violence she experiences from the tyranny of the Capitol.  This suggestion is proven valid in the context of the Rwandan genocide.  Though the violence originally erupted from a history of disagreement and prejudice between two ethnic groups, the inaction of the United Nations and western countries added fuel to the fire by leaving the groups to attempt to end the bloodshed on their own.  Rebel groups, who were attacked and only caused more bloodshed by firing back on the people who assaulted them, which in turn completely pinned the two ethnicities against one another.  No one know for sure what would have happened if other nations would have gotten involved from the beginning, but surely the bloodshed would not have continued to take the lives of over 800, 000 lives in 100 days.
	
After being exposed to the horrors of both the situation in Panem and the events of the genocide, Katniss and Rusesabagina are forced to undergo transformations as characters. Of course Katniss is fictional, however her transformation throughout Catching Fire and the rest of the series is very realistic and even somewhat similar to that of Rusesabagina and the role he plays in Rwanda.  Katniss does not enter the games out of her own will, but only as a last resort to save her sister Prim from certain death.  Throughout the course of the first games she grows and develops as a character, both establishing relationships with other characters such as Peeta, Cinna, and Haymitch but also establishing a hatred for the Capitol and President Snow and the tortures he has put her and her people through.  Katniss's role throughout the series changes as well.  She transforms from an insignificant girl who only cares about her sister to a symbol for something much larger, a revolution in fact.  In this same way, Paul Rusesabagina changes as well, except as a real life character.  In order to maintain the safety of him and his family he not only lies, bribes, and cashes in favors but takes in others under his wing to attempt to protect as well.  Surrounded by the effects of inaction in a serious time of conflict, both Katniss and Rusesabagina rise up and someone that people can look up to for protection and leadership in a time of need.  They are both heroes in numerous ways, and largely unexpected ones at that.  However, it remains true that their heroism would have never been truly necessary if much more capable forces and decided to stand up for them at an earlier time.
	
The bravery of the heroes in Catching Fire and the Rwandan genocide are obvious, and the significance of the roles they played cannot be argued.  The necessity of their roles however, can.  Their heroism was merely a result of a lack of not only heroism, but responsibility by others who could have done more sooner.  Katniss's outrage with the idea of a District 13 is not only well placed but lens of what Paul Rusesabagina and the Rwandan people felt and experienced for 100 days, and in the aftermath of the genocide itself.   Suzanne Collins crafted Katniss and the Hunger Games series as a parallel for maybe not the Rwandan genocide itself (though they are certainly relevant and relatable) but for events like it in which tyranny exist and is not addressed properly by the correct people.  The events of bloodshed and war occur everyday, everyday somewhere in the world they are ignore by someone with the power, but not the will to help.

